Musicians More Likely to Go Deaf

Professional musicians are significantly more likely than the general public to develop hearing loss and/or tinnitus, according to a recent study.

The study, published in the scientific peer-reviewed journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, details how researchers determine that professional musicians are nearly four times as likely to develop noise-induced hearing loss and 57 percent more likely to develop tinnitus, compared to less musically-inclined members of the general public.

According to the authors of the study, past studies have shown that nearly half of all rock and pop musicians develop hearing loss; and interestingly, approximately 58 percent of all classical professional musicians tend to lose their hearing from over-exposure to elevated decibels.

According to this most recent study, researchers identified 2,227 professional musicians from a database of approximately 7 million German citizens provided by three statutory health insurance providers. "Professional musician" was defined by the researchers as a person who was coded by their insurance company as "musician" during the study period of January 2004 through December 2008.

Among these 2,227 musicians, 238 were registered with cases of hearing loss, according to the insurance data. This hearing loss naturally must be significant enough for insurance companies to acknowledge the disability in the first place.

According to an analysis of the overall data, the researchers were able to determine that standard citizens, even those living in busy cities -- who are historically at a greater risk of developing hearing loss -- were a little under four time less likely to lose their hearing, compared to professional musicians.

Musicians were also found to more frequently make claims of tinnitus -- an incessant ringing in the ears that while often temporary, can be a permanent condition. Musicians were found to be 57 percent more likely to report this condition, compared to non-musicians.

The study was published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine, a BMJ publication, on April 30.